I am so falling behind with blogging my quotes! So many different balls in the air right now to juggle….

Here are the quotes from the past two weeks:

“Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a battle you know nothing about.”

I think it’s so important to really remember this. What we see on the outside, what we see on social media, or even what people tell us initially, is often not the whole story. We need to always err on the side of compassion and “find explanations in charity.” Everyone has a story. Everyone has a struggle.

I sometimes hear people “compare problems.” Death is worse than divorce. Depression is better than anxiety. Chronic illness is worse than acute. It’s better to miscarry than to lose a month old baby. It’s easier to have money problems earlier in life than it is later. It’s worse to have a troubled teenager than a troubled young adult.

And maybe some situations are way worse than others. Who knows? No one has experienced it all.

The worst situation – to you –  is the one that you find yourself coping with.

I’m not a big advocate on “comparing problems”. I’m a big advocate in developing empathy and recognizing that everyone is dealing with their own pain and carrying their own personal cross.

So just be kind.

“People’s circumstances are often merely a reflection of the choices they make.”

This one always makes me think.

Because, I agree and I disagree.

The power of choice is incredible, and we make tiny choices every day that determine our circumstances. So, it’s very important to choose wisely. One of my favourite books right now, “Atomic Habits” by James Clear, talks a lot about the power of seemingly inconsequential decisions that shape our success in big ways.

At the same time, we are also impacted by other people’s choices. We don’t have complete control over some things that happen to us – although we have complete control over how we choose to deal with the situation.

And then there is the random, out of the blue, luck of the draw circumstances that are often unexplainable. Things like, why was I born at this time, in this country, to this family? Those circumstances are not a reflection of choices. And to me, they are really unexplainable right now.

Overall, it’s important that we consider very carefully what we have influence over and not underestimate the power that we do have.